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The Institute of Hospitality, UK – Nigeria Region, has expressed concern over the Federal Capital Territory Administration’s plan to register, license, and grade hotels and other tourism establishments operating in Abuja.
In a statement, the institute decried the ensuing conflicts in the decision of the FCTA to undertake the exercise and the provisions of the newly signed Nigerian Tourism Development Authority Act and Related Matters, 2022, which repealed the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation Act, cap. N.137, laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004.
The Chairman of the institute, Professor Wasiu Babalola, called for clarifications on the provisions of the new NTDA Act and the ‘Tourism Act’ of the FCTA, which the FCTA said it was relying on to undertake the exercise so as to avoid conflict that would adversely affect hospitality and tourism businesses that operate in the FCT.
It would be recalled that recently, the Mandate Secretary of the FCTA’s Social Development Secretariat, Hadiza Kabir, had alongside other officers of the tourism department after a stakeholder sensitisation meeting in Abuja, addressed the media on the matter, disclosing that the Minister of the FCT, Alhaji Mohammed Musa Bello, had given ministerial approval to the department to commence the registration, licensing and grading of hotels and related tourism facilities.
Babalola highlighted that the Nigerian Tourism Development Authority’s primary responsibility, as outlined in the new act, was to promote the growth and development of the country’s tourism industry, and urging the government to prioritise the sector.
He said, “With the new bill, the Nigerian Tourism Development Authority is expected to develop and promote Nigeria as a travel and tourism destination by encouraging people living in Nigeria to spend their holiday in the country while encouraging those abroad to visit Nigeria, and by this, the new Act is to discourage the culture of Nigerians paying huge foreign currencies for tourism abroad.”
According the chairman, the new Act only provided for the accreditation of hotels and tourism-related outfits by NTDA and silent on the aspect of registration, licensing and grading, which ought to come first before such accreditation.
He added, “Although, Section.32 of the NTDA Act provides that the authority shall accredit all hospitality and tourism establishments in all the states of the federation; the combined reading of S.32 – S.38 NTDA Act signifies that the NTDA accreditation is voluntary and provided states partners with the NTDA on the same.
‘‘However, the provisions of S.39 of the NTDA Act stipulating offences and penalties signify an import that makes the accreditation by the NTDA compulsory for all. The NTDA is under the Honorable Minister in charge of Information, Culture and Tourism, Alhaji Lai Mohammed.’’
In view of this, Babalola called on both the FCT and Information and Culture ministers to address stakeholders and the nation on the matter urgently to avoid the confusion that may likely arise from the development.
He said, “That the Honorable Minister of the FCT, Mohammed Musa Bello, and the Honorable Minister of Information, Culture, and Tourism; Alhaji Lai Muhammed should jointly reaffirm to stakeholders that the registration, classification, and grading of hospitality and tourism enterprises within the FCT remains the exclusive functions of the FCT Administration.”
While noting the need for the NTDA Act to be fine tuned so as to make its amenable to the Nigerian situation and fulfilling the aspirations of the operators, Babalola noted that while the Act itself may not be the ultimate goal, it served as a tool to achieve certain objectives.
‘‘We humbly wish to support the industry’s call for the creation of a separate ministry for tourism or culture and tourism. There seems to still be enough time for the setting up of the ministry before the end of your tenure and by so doing, the current administration would have put in place the foundation for the incoming administration to build upon towards the repositioning of our tourism and hospitality industry.’’
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